I can’t think of the last time I had all my kids at Christmas. Best. Christmas. Ever. – DixieTank deposited Evie in the recliner that a couple of prospects moved into the kitchen. Dixie chased the men out of the room and soon it was filled with feminine laughter and conversations. With Dixie and her daughters and Nessie and her girls working in the kitchen, they quickly turned out enough breakfast burritos for a small army. Or a clubhouse full of bikers. As soon as Katie took the last tray out to the dining room, they shifted gears. The pork and beef roasts were quickly shredded. Nessie wasn’t sure that they would need to smoke six of each, but Dixie had insisted. Evie talked her mom into making her a plate of street tacos. On the second plate, Dixie told her she would just have to wait for the tamales. Grumbling, Evie ate her second helping, approaching her food coma limit. By ten, the tamales were cooking and Evie was asleep in her recliner. Dixie laughed as Tank carried her to

I don’t care what you do during homeroom. Just check in with me. Let me know what you’re having for lunch. – Evie Evie was an unconventional teacher. She was aware of this, and did not care. Her students scored high on tests. Not just in her class, but other classes and the MCAS, the Massachusetts standardized test.It was no surprise that when classes went virtual, hers continued to be unconventional. Today classes resumed after what she had referred to as longest spring break in her entire life. Three weeks. Taz’s daughter-in-law still had family in Europe. So did Nessie and Siobhan. They both had already lost family members. Doc, a few nurses and one doctor were sharing a three bedroom apartment. They were rotating through the rooms on shifts. Evie thought that there six or seven of them all together. They were working extended shifts and trying to minimize exposure to family members. Especially those with kids, elderly and at-risk people. Everything was topsy-turvy in the wo

Mom, how come I’m the only girl? And the only single? – MonicaEvie sat at her desk as her last class of the day found their way in. She had kept her chalkboard paint but the other colors had changed over the years. Currently, it was teal blue and cream. The last two kids into the room were, of course, her oldest sons. “Boys, sit apart.” They both paused and looked at her and she simply cocked an eyebrow at them. With a simple “Yes, ma’am” from each of them, they sat on opposite sides of the room.David sat in a chair next to Nash O’Malley and Camden sat behind Tobias Lowery. Every year there were more and more kids from the club in her classes. Soon, the next generation would be occupying the desks in her room. She wasn’t sure that she was ready for that. It was bad enough that Law's daughter would be starting high school next year. And Athos and Michelle’s oldest would start the same year as Monica. And God save the high school boys that decide to date any of those girls. Moni

Bury her deep in the safe house network. I don’t want anyone to be able to find her, even if they know where to look. – WerewolfIt had been June when Nessie reached out to Siobhan. It was now Boxing Day and she discovered that she was back in Australia. Her minders had brought her here once before, shortly after they snatched her off the street in Germany.The big hairy guy who had introduced himself as Werewolf said that it would be a few months before she could go to her aunt in America. She needed time to heal and disappear. Time to heal, her soul and body. She had been in a hospital style room that she later discovered was in a basement of a castle turned hotel. They had performed surgery to set her broken arm with pins and removed the small tracking device. Once her doctor, an Italian employed by Werewolf and his company, had cleared her for travel, they moved her. Often. Nessie had objected to decoys, afraid that someone would get hurt because of her. Havi, her decoy, told h

You were our longest assignment. We both miss you. And your cooking. – RandyAfter six months with the two men, it felt strange not to go through their regular routine. It had been just over a week since they parted ways in Hawaii. The minders that she had on the yacht kept their distance. In fact, she was not sure that she even had them. She was just another member of the crew on a chartered yacht cruise. It had taken six days to reach California. She was certain that it could have been faster, but it was booked to be a leisurely cruise. And she got to cook for newlyweds.Nessie had never cooked on a ship before. For a week, she was the head chef aboard the Lady Ashford. Now, she sat on the bed in the room on the second floor of Sinner’s Shack. It was the clubhouse for the Devil’s Saints, her uncle Toad was president of the motorcycle club. What she knew of bikers came from movies and TV shows. She was not seeing the drug trade or arms that were portrayed on the screen. The men we